Lacey said...I have a really silly Scotland question: Is there really such thing as a "Taking Out"? I saw it on Made of Honor and I wondered that, but was always too embarrassed to ask... but now that you're in Scotland... you know.

"Taking Out" is an old Scottish wedding tradition. It's the old version of the Hen Night. You can read more about wedding customs here.

PS. That's one of Linzi's favourite films. You should have girls night ;)Linzi said...I want to see pictures of your hometown and of the shops and stuff...plus the countryside :) I love your pictures and I loved the video a couple posts ago. It will almost be like I visited Scotland ;)

I did my best, Linzi. I really did.

Stuart said...

I love the pictures babe. Usually I'm the one taking pictures of the plants.

*swoon*

Rachel said...

I'm so excited for your little documentary of your time there. I think we're all pretty curious about Laura's hometown :)

This makes me wonder why you're curious? Are you curious how such a specimen like me was raised? Chloe said...Those pictures are incredible! You're a really good photographer. :)
I have a question about Scotland. :D
How many people speak Scottish? It's a weird question I know but here, I only know 7 or 8 people who can speak Welsh (4 of them are Welsh teachers) so I was wondering if it was different in Scotland?

The Scottish you refer to is Gaelic. I don't know anyone who can speak it but I found that in 2001 92,000 people (2% of the population) registered on the census that they had some ability to speak it. Mostly the live up north in the Highlands.

Lindsay said...

i love your pictures... also.. i have a question... When can i come visit you?

Friday, May 28, 2010

Yesterday Kirsten and her mum stopped in to visit and stay the night on their way down to southern California. It'd been about a year since I last saw Kirsten and as usual it was like we'd never been apart.

I woke up on Wednesday with my back feeling a bit stiff and by the end of the day I was ready to die. Today I'm clinging to walls and taking about 5 minutes to get from the computer to the kitchen which is normally a 10 second journey. I haven't been to the loo yet because I know the struggle I'm going to have lifting the toilet seat lid, pulling my trousers up afterwards etc... :(

The timing is quite something. We just bought a new memory foam mattress on Tuesday night because I was worried something was going to happen to my back from sleeping on the air bed... I had no idea it would happen that night. The mattress should arrive today. Let's hope it's magical.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I've been bluesy lately. I'm shaking it by jumping back into the Silly! Because fun is what I need and what more fun can I have when I'm doing something dorky with other girls?! I'm organising a Silly Girls photo shoot but this time we're going global! If you have a camera and you want to make friends, have fun and laugh your pretty little head off sign up and let us know you're interested! If you're interested but need a pep talk, I can help you with that too! Up to date information can be found on our blog and you can get interactive with us by joining our facebook page. If you want to join in but feel shy about it, you're going to have the most fun! You just have to do it!

I've said it once and I'll say it again, you don't need a fancy camera, you don't need photoshop, you're not too fat or too old and you do have time! The outcome is always the same - FUN... and about 10 billion new facebook profile pics. You'll love it.

Feel free to take the flyer and post it on your own blog. Post any ideas for themes on the facebook page. We'll choose our favourite ones and the one with the most votes will be the global theme :)

Saturday, May 22, 2010

I realised a couple of nights ago that I only get two weeks break for summer and not the much needed, dreamed about and wanted three. My school week is Sunday to Sunday and the blocks last 6 weeks. In those 6 weeks we cover the same school text book that not-online schools cover in 3 months. It's haaaard! Boo hoo. Wah wah! My next block starts on Sunday... Sunday July FOURTH.

So, after a good cry out of frustration and maybe punching the air angrily a few times I've decided that if I only get two weeks off I better start making these weekends really count. Stuart doesn't know it yet and he's probably going to hate it BUT we're going out. Today.

Figuring that out pretty much extinguished any ideas of traveling south and gallivanting I might of had.

Have you Yanks seen the site Roadside America? I love it. It's a compilation of those little roadside attractions that get missed out. The seems to be under appreciated little gems, a lot of them. Go see what's in your area. Some are totally weird, which I love. A lot of them are pretty retro too. Why don't we build weird stuff anymore? You can use the "My Sites" part of Roadside America to plan your trips to include some roadside attractions.

I'm adding a new Roadside America section to my summer list. Do you know of any weird little places to visit?

Before I went home to Scotland I was feeling a little stale. I thought when I came back I'd be refreshed but I've been stalerer... more stale. I don't really know what the deal is. Well, I do know, what I don't know is why I feel I have no control over it. It's my life so why can't I find control? I was excited to move here. I thought I'd make lots of new friends and we'd do fun things all the time. I thought I'd meet other girls who's husbands are going to Stuart's school and we'd be pals and we'd bake and paint our toenails, share embarrassing stories and cry at chick flicks together. I thought it'd be like Rexburg.

Nowhere is like Rexburg.

I don't get to meet people for them not to like me, so I don't have to worry about that. I think I'd rather meet people who decide not to like me rather than not meet people at all. I'm not looking for sympathy because that just helps me to feel sorry for myself and I do plenty of that by myself. This is just an explanation for the following pictures.

I'm lucky to have a friend who is pretty much in the same situation as me, I only wish I could see her more often, maybe then we'd both feel better?

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

In case you missed it on my facebook yesterday: I don't really know what came over me. It was raining. I was starting a new block of school - the one I've been not looking forward to. I was avoiding it. I cut my hair all off.

My hair was as long as it's been in as long as I can remember. 15 years? and then it all ended up in my sink as I attacked the back of my head with a #8 clipper. Stuart stood and watched wide eyed and then got back to making dinner as I continued. It took less time than if I was at the actual hairdressers.

I'll be rocking the pixie cut this summer.
I feel more like myself now.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Today I woke up not feeling so great so we decided to go out for some fresh air at the local weekly Farmers Market. We picked up some ginormous oranges and strawberries. Stuart's school does this thing where if we pay $15 a week we get a huge box of local produce. It's like a surprise, grab bag thing and you don't know what you'll get. We've been thinking about doing that because we do spend quite a bit of our budget on fresh fruit and veg. We're going to see how much $15 gets us at the Farmers Market... and that's how we spend our money!

Watch the video and keep your eyes peeled for the girl with the really long plait/braid.

Our day out. from Laura A on Vimeo.
Um, afterwards we came home and Stuart became absolutely desperate for the new Iron Man film. We have some free tickets to use so we headed out for that and looooved it. I adore that little Robert Downey jr. immensely.

The new Karate Kid film? I'm a little nervous about it seeing as the original Karate Kid is one of my ultimate fave films ever. It's on my list of films to get stranded with on a desert island and I know it line for line. I'm proud to admit...

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

There are lots of wonderful people in the world. I think of people like Stephanie (previous post) who touch so many lives and how it's a choice for them to do that. The world would truly be missing something if she chose not to share her life with us. The role of families obviously plays into that. She was raised to be the woman she is today. I was raised to be who I am. I'm trying my best to be my best.

I was thinking about how family situations differ. Sometimes it seems like we're just sailing along and everything is dandy but then we hit rocks. The rough patch seems to last a lot longer than the smooth sailing when in reality it lasts a tiny fraction of the smooth sailing. The people standing next to us at those times are wonderful people. People to be held on to forever.

I come from a strong family. Things aren't ideal in the slightest. It's pretty miserable actually but each family member is strong, makes strong choices, sticks to their guns. We were taught that.

That's why these little videos are so important to me. It's where I come from.

Tonight Stuart and I are going to compile our annual Summer List. This will be our 6th year of summer listing but only the 3rd year of documenting it on the blog: 2007, 2009... what happened to 2008? I also have a Life List but it's different than the Summer List...